Over the years hiking has become one of my favorite ways to experience nature. Hiking has helped me develop my photography into a hobby and has brought me to some really great places. Slowly, hiking has turned into a major life passion – to see nature in all it’s beauty by foot.
Part of what draws me to hiking is that hiking makes me feel close to nature, of which I enjoy. To me being in nature is a lot like the feeling of coming home after being away for a long time, or seeing a friend that you have not seen in a very long time. The brilliance of this is that where I am hiking does not seem to matter as long as it is in nature. However, my preference is indeed hiking in the mountains in the western U.S. or U.S. National Parks.
The inspiration to hike and to continue putting miles in has always been driven by the need to see and be in nature. It is that peace and serenity of the quiet in nature that keeps me searching for more unique and out-of-reach places to hike, camp, and photograph. It is this stillness and tranquility that is part of what I attempt to share with the viewers of my photography. Quite simply, the inspiration to hike comes from every new corner you turn, and the desire to see more. So much of what I feel when I hike is driven by what I am seeing.
As I seek out new and exciting places to see and hike, I am reminded of something that I saw on the Bright Angel Trail in Grand Canyon. Upon seeing the Grand Canyon for the first time from Mather Point, I was absolutely awestruck by the vastness of that place. Visiting the Grand Canyon for some people is almost a sensory overload. For me, it started with my sense of vision and being completely overwhelmed with what I was seeing. Eventually the experience just becomes totally overwhelming to all of your senses in such a good way. This is why some of us have a desire to continue to visit places like the Grand Canyon year over year or as frequently as possible.
It must have been around the 4 mile area down in the Grand Canyon that it happened. My friend and I were on a day hike down to Indian Garden. To understand the difficulty of hiking some parts of the Bright Angel Trail, realize that there are sections of the trail that are almost nothing but crude ‘trail’ steps held in place by logs staked into the ground. These steps continue throughout the trail in large sections, and the trail is of moderate difficulty. While my friend and I were thinking about how difficult the hike down was, we saw a blind hiker working his way back up from what we imagined to be Indian Garden. Considering that the hike to Indian Garden from the trailhead is 9 miles there and back, the accomplishment of anyone completing this hike is great.
To complete this trail as a blind person (using a guide) to me was something really amazing to witness. Considering that I trained for 18 months to feel physically fit to do this trail (and more), this gave me a new point of inspiration to keep hiking. The challenge and difficulty to me on this trail was somewhat significant. The challenge to him was exponential compared to my struggles up and down that trail. To see someone even more determined than you are at your own 110% makes you reconsider your own perspective.
This makes me wonder if the basis of my own perspective needs to be from a deeper point within myself and not from what now seems to be the shallow spot of being driven to inspiration by visual cues and desire alone. It makes me believe that in a certain way what I have accomplished is minimal to what that person accomplished in the canyon that same day. It’s a struggle in my mind to understand the inspiration and the level of difficulty that this person endured. It is impossible for me to contrast the internal feeling of accomplishment after completing such a hike. This is not a realization that my own accomplishments are insignificant in any way. What this has driven me to is the realization that what I considered digging deeper into myself for inspiration and drive is only the beginning of what the human body can do.
Several months later as I consider the next set of goals for myself, the logistics behind accomplishing those goals, and what is inspiring me to continue on, that blind hiker is on my mind in the same way that a small candle is a guide in dark. The Grand Canyon has changed me in more ways than one, all of them equally important to who I am and who I have become. The Grand Canyon gave me the realization that I need to dig deeper within myself to get to the core of who I am. In all things from that moment forward I will be inspired by that blind hiker to at least go a little deeper than before.